Obama makes O.J. Simpson joke

By REID J. EPSTEIN

10/09/2012 01:00 AM EDT

SAN FRANCISCO – O.J. Simpson jokes are apparently now fair game in presidential politics.

President Obama invoked the former NFL star acquitted of murder Monday night during a fundraiser here during a riff about Sesame Street characters on the run from Mitt Romney seeking to cut federal funding from public broadcasting.

“Elmo has been seen in a white Suburban,” Obama said. “He’s driving for the border.”

Simpson, of course, traveled in a white Ford Bronco, not a Chevrolet Suburban, during his infamous 1994 low-speed chase through Los Angeles.

Obama’s late-night fundraising pitch also included his first on-camera rebuttal to Romney’s latest foreign policy address, delivered more than 12 hours earlier in Virginia.

“Gov. Romney, he has a different view,” Obama said. “He said it’s tragic to end the war in Iraq. In a speech today he doubled down on that belief. He said ending the war was a mistake. I disagree. Bringing our troops home was the right thing to do.”

And while Obama didn’t repeat his Sunday night joke about his lousy debate performance, he did make a reference to the legion of unsolicited advice he has received since his Denver effort.

“Listen, you know, after the debate I had a bunch of folks come to me and say, ‘Don’t be so polite, don’t be so nice,’” Obama said. “But, but, I want everybody to understand something. What was being presented wasn’t leadership, it was salesmanship.”